deal or no deal - what mixed messages from washington mean for the status of a budget agreement. in today's cover story,

crackdown on concussion. the growing concern of career- ending brain injuries. how living in an increasingly tech-savvy world affects consumer behavior. plus, the box office is full of oscar contenders. but our critic says there is a bad one in the bunch. and why the people of france may soon be left in the dark. first business starts now. you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning. it's thursday, december 6th. i'm angela miles. in today's first look: a miss-matched market! the dow moved above 13,000 while the nasdaq was weighed down by apple. apple fell 6% yesterday, the worst drop this year. treasury secretary tim geithner says washington lawmakers are inching closer to deal on the budget. the sec is breaking up an alleged insider trading scheme

that involved tip-offs on upcoming merger deals. 10 people are charged, including a banker from wells fargo. and the nasdaq is blaming human error for the ipo delay of small biz lender whitehorse finance, which was supposed to start trading yesterday morning. shares fell 6% in its delayed debut. joe cusick of optionsxpress joins us now. good morning joe. good to have you back on the show. > > thank you. > yesterday we had a trader talking about a potential rally in the financials. well, did we ever get one yesterday - bank of america back above $10. so, now what is going to happen for the markets? what do you think will be the next sector play? > > you know what, i am going to keep an eye on the financials of course. we are going to continue to watch mid-caps and small-caps. the data that has been coming out, and we have data coming out this morning, we are going to watch those more economically sensitive stocks here, domestically speaking. and those have been leading the

market. yesterday they were leading the market even in spite of the pull-back that was early in this session. but this morning, we are going to see if that leadership continues, especially if the data comes out positive. > and they're continuing to sell off on gold. what levels are you watching for here? > > we broke through that $1,700 level. i am really actually watching the u.s. dollar. that is going to be a better flag right now. i think gold is still under pressure, but the dollar is really going to dictate at this stage, or at least flag, whether there is continual pressure. if strike starts to pick up in the buck, then we could see some continued resistance at these levels and actually maybe some downside pressure. > and how will you be setting up for the jobs number on friday joe? > > right now what i want to do is stay small. i am just going to be looking at those small- and mid-cap names. i am also

looking to try to take advantage of some recent implied volatility spikes in some names - most notably we saw apple in the action there. wow, don't want to catch any falling knives there. but we are looking to take some strategies into play that are taking advantage of these short-term pops in implied volatility. > good to have you on the show again. thanks joe. > > thank you angie. in our cover story, a new study adds to the evidence that head injuries in sports can lead to incurable brain disease later in life. and it may bolster claims by former pro football players that the nfl bears some responsibility for their dibilitating condition. this week, 3300 former pro football players suing the nfl for concussion-related medical problems got a piece of evidence in their favor. after a four- year study, boston university researchers concluded that 80% of brain samples taken from deceased athletes - mostly nfl players who'd suffered head injuries - had evidence of brain damage. "completely dibilitating." the nfl has denied the link. but the centers for disease control is releasing public

service announcements featuring former quarterback kurt warner to increase awareness. and a federal court in philadelphia is weighing whether more than 140 consolidated player lawsuits should be dismissed, arbitrated, or argued before a jury. "we want a jury trial." at chicago-kent school of law, the subject reached beyond the nfl to include much younger football players who are likely unaware of the risks. "i have a brother in texas who is playing, and this is to protect him." the nfl case involves federal labor law. the amount of damages the nfl could face is staggering. "it could be billions of dollars."

players contend the league fraudulently concealed the dangers of concussions. the league denies it, but since 2007 has offered players whose head injuries resulted in dementia $100,000 a year for ex- players hospital-bound or in assisted living centers, and $88,000 if living at home. so far, that payout has amounted to more than $18.5 million. if the federal court determines that the players claims should proceed, the nfl says it would need about six years to assess the viability of each player's case before trial. president obama is hoping to gain yardage on budget talks, minus drama. yesterday, the president met with business leaders at a roundtable event, and had this to say to the ceo's: "i recognize that all of you have an investment in your own company,ut notnly your own bottom lines, but in the well-being of america." at the same time, gop majority leaders including eric cantor

met with small business owners. cantor blamed the president for being obsessed wtih raising taxes. the president says he won't budge on higher taxes for the top 2%. the stock market rallied yesterday after bloomberg news reported 40 republicans have joined a bipartisan call to break the budget impasse. california shipping ports in l.a. and long beach are back in action. an eight-day strike started by clerical workers over the outsourcing of jobs has ended. an additional 10,000 port workers refused to cross the picket lines, which crippled cargo deliveries. the clerical union is expected to vote on whether to ratify the agreement in about 2 weeks. while shippers and workers have worked out a deal, the national retail federation warns it's possible retailers could get left with some bare shelves during the holidays if the strike continued. plans are moving forward to allow big box retailers to do business in india. for years, walmart and other u.s. companies have been battling to set up shops there. the indian government has enough votes to

pave the way for the retailers despite crisitism that bringing in big box stores will crush small shops and farmers. later this week, the indian parliament's upper house will debate the issue. details are emerging into how a fire at a bangledesh factory could have been avoided. the factory makes clothes for walmart and sears. last month, 100 people were killed in the fire. since 2005, more than 700 garment workers have died, according to a labor rights group. bloomberg news has uncovered in a recent meeting an official for walmart saying that paying for the upgrade of the factory would be "too costly." walmart is declining comment. starbucks plans do for tea what it did for coffee. the coffee chain is going supersize by opening 20,000 more cafes by 2014, with much of the growth coming from china. 1500 stores will open in the u.s. alone in a span of 5 years. and now with the recent acquisition of teavana, starbucks will eventually open "tea bars" in

shopping malls. for serious coffee drinkers, starbucks is offering a stainless steel gift card starting at $400 friday morning. citigroup is transitioning to a smaller workforce. the bank is cutting 11,000 jobs, which will save citi $900 million next year. cuts were rumored following former ceo vikram pandit's departure from the bank. citi chairman michael o'neill has been known to cut staff to turn business around. the bank has been trying to rebound after being hit hard during the financial crisis. worldwide, 84 branches will close as a result of the measures. a trader is under arrest, allegedly for attempting to get rich quick by trading shares of apple. according to reports, david miller was trading at rochdale securities. the fbi claims he bought roughly $1 billion in apple stock, unauthoritized, with the brokerage's money, on october 25th. that's the same day apple was set to release earnerings. he thought the stock would rise

and he would make profit, but the stock fell, leaving the company with $5 million in losses. many companies are planning on cutting end-of-year bonuses. in a survey, consulting firm towers watson finds that bigger companies are planning on skimping on the end-of-year extra cash for employees. many companies are changing company qualifications for bonus eligibility. profits have to hit a certain level before bonuses may be approved. the bar has also been raised for individual workers to qualify for a bonus. the survey found this trend may continue next year, also. fuel lines on the new boeing dreamliner are under close inspection. a new 787 dreamliner made a safe emergency landing tuesday in new orleans. the unexpected landing was caused by a mechanical issue that turned up on the flight shortly after departure from houston. the faa is ordering checks on fuel line connections on all 787s. poor connections could cause fuel loss, engine shutdowns, or fires.

the city of lights is hitting the dimmer switch. this week, officials in paris proposed a plan for shops and public buildings to turn off lights at night to cut costs and save energy. already, museums, churches and the eiffel tower go dark for the night. not everyone is saying "oui." some are concerned the plan will be a turn-off for tourists. however, the french government hopes the ban extends nationwide. now that there's a baby on the way for the duke and duchess of cambridge, entrepreneurs are popping up with money-making ideas. similar to what happened in the days leading up to royal wedding, the expected bundle of joy is causing a stir in the financial world, including wagers on baby names and whether multiple babies will be born. "i think any time you get a royal, even of this magnitude, the first thing that business owners will think about is how can i make money, and there will be ways, from different types of cups to ornaments." that was our royal-watcher fred wientraub, who also expects a

"bump up" in tourism once the baby arrives. congratulations to the parents-to-be. still to come, why it was a november to remember at the box office, and what that will mean for december. later in movies and money. but first, how smartphones are taking control of your shopping habits. that's next with bill moller.

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the widening use of social media and smart phones. that's kind of the buzz of the moment. inc magazine columnist and ceo of tribeca flashpoint academy, and forward thinker, howard tullman, he looks to the buzz of tomorrow. and you foresee, probably in the near future, a time when businesses and consumers will have immediate comparative information concerning everything we want to buy, we want to sell, we need, without us even asking for it. > > for sure. we see the integration of mobile and social. and the whole idea of mobility is so crucial, we actually call that motial. and motial is shorthand for three things: what do we need, when do we need it, where do we need it? and the idea will be that it will always be there. it is passively going to be supplied. locations and places will talk to us and supply as this kind of information. > so we are walking by a flower

shop, and the shop will talk to- i guess it's still called a smartphone- > > yeah. > and it will say, "your wife's anniversary is coming up. you didn't buy her anything. we will give you 10% off right now." > > yeah, except we call it a smart tracker now, because a phone is one of the limited uses. but nudge commerce, just as you suggested, suggestive selling, knowing that in this context you are going to be interested in these kinds of offers, all of those things are very important, because right now, it turns out that the context in which you deliver me information is more important than the content. > isn't that interesting? and in a sense we are kind of outsourcing our own needs and our own memories. > > absolutely. we are not going to forget. "the absence of forgetting" i call it. because who remembers phone numbers now? you just punch it into your phone. > it's just a picture of somebody you want to talk to. what about the downside? are we sacrificing privacy, for example? > > certainly we are going, if we're going to share our location at all times in order

to make financial transactions easier, medical information available, all of this, then people are going to know where we're at. and there's no question about that. > what is driving this, though? is it commerce essentially? > > i think it's convenience. i think that we just want to have available to us when we are making a decision, all the tools. we have become spoiled. we have become accustomed to having all the information that we need to be smart shoppers, to be good consumers, to be good decision makers, and also we want to take our friends with us. so we want to be able to consult our peers, or we want information, not from the crowd anymore, but from the people whose opinions and interests we value. > this brave new world is coming on fast. howard tullman, thank you. thank you bill. still ahead, why this week could set a record at the box office. more on that next.

the box office is bursting with blockbusters. it feels so good to say that! erik childress, our movie guy, is here. is this turning into a record-breaking year, or at the very least a record-breaking season? > > certainly both, actually. november just broke the highest november record on tap, way from back in 2009, which is the highest box office calendar year on record. 2012 is going to be very close. i think we are coming right down to the wire. we are only about $7 million ahead of pace right now, so it is going to depend on how well these december blockbusters do. > here is what happened at the box office last weekend. the "twilight saga" coming in at

$17 million, "skyfall" at $16 million, "rise of the guardians" at $13 million, "lincoln" at $13 million, and "life of pi" at $12 million. but brad pitt's movie came in at seventh place. > > the worst wide-release opening of brad pitt's career. but i don't think this is really a sign of brad pitt. i mean, audiences clearly didn't like the movie at all. they gave it an f cinemascore, which is very rare for a service company. but the weinstein co., for some reason, they kind of dumped this movie after cannes. they didn't put a lot of publicity into it, they kind of knew it wasn't an awards film. so they kind of just threw it out there, and obviously the box office reflected that. > "killing them softly" is doing just that. > > that's right. > i want to ask you about this: i feel like it is a little early to talk about oscar contenders, but i made it to a lot of these movies so far, i have to say: "argo", "lincoln." i now saw "silver linings." it is terrific. i loved "flight." i thought "arbitrage" was very good. what do the winners look like for you? > > i think there are probably three films right now that if you are looking for best picture contenders, i think the three films right now are "argo",

"lincoln," and "les miserables," which is coming out in december. all those three films i think are going to be competing for the top. i think "lincoln" has the edge right now. but you are going to see a lot of other- "zero dark thirty," the kathryn bigelow film about osama bin laden, is starting to win a lot of these early critic awards. so, it has turned into a major player as well. > that is going to be huge. let's take a look at what is happening this weekend: just one movie in wide release here: "playing for keeps." how well will it do? > > i don't think it is going to do very well at all. it's a pretty laughably bad, incompetently made rom-com- > not just because it's a rom- com. > > not because it's a rom-com, not because it has gerard butler, but that certainly doesn't help matters. you just gave a great list of movies for people to go see. go see one of them. if you saw it already, see it again. forget "playing for keeps." > it's tough out there. > > yes it is. > in a good way. have a good day. > > thank you, you too. the gold mining deal - wall street is panning. we will dig into the stock after the break.

a conglomerate is in the works. time now for chart talk with matt cavanaugh of cmz trading. ok matt, so copper and gold miner freeport mcmoran now wants to get into the business of oil and gas production. what you think about this stock? > > i tell you what, the stock got absolutely crushed on the news of this deal. the market really didn't like it. it's a complete change of direction for them, a complete change of focus. they're going away from kind of a narrow look to, "hey, we are going to be a big diversified miner. we are going to get mineral assets, we are going to get oil and gas, we are really going to expand our focus here." the market didn't like it so much, so the question is, is this a buying opportunity, or is this a stock you want to stay away from? > why does wall street not like this deal? usually they are big on these companies that have multiple arms going at the same time. > > that is the question. you look at it on paper and you say, "hey, they are buying some really quality assets, they are buying them in good places, they are getting in on natural gas,

really diversifying here." but there are some concerns. number one is why are these companies together? is it a bailout? is there some intertwinment with their chief executives? number two, can they execute? are there synergies here that they see that the analysts don't see? and i think those are some big questions. so looking forward, this is going to be a stock to really watch. if they can execute, it is going to be a home run. if not, it could be a bust for shareholders. > sounds like you might be staying on the sidelines of this one for a while. > > absolutely. i see support for the stock right here. it has got to hold the $30 range. but for me, i just don't have enough information. i would like to wait back, see exactly how this deal goes down, what more news comes out, before i make a decision. > thank you. that is matt cavanaugh of cmz trading. > > thank you. that's the end of the line for

our show today. coming up on jobs friday, why low-wage workers are pushing for unions. will it work? and what will be mean for corporate america? from all of us at first business, thank you for watching. have a great thursday! . good morning, one person is

dead after a house goes up in flames in san francisco overnight, why the fire is being called suspicious. they found a gruesome discovery along a busy freeway. two landmark laws are going into effect in that state, it is all ahead on the ktvu channel 2 morning news. this is ktvu channel 2 morning news. good morning, thank you for joining us on this thursday december 6th, i am pam cook. >> there is this thing called the sun that we have not seen for a while. >> oh, i like that. >> steve? yes, i think we will. it has been a fun week, pam. we do have some areas of fog and it is that low overcast which the m